I have altered our androidManifest.xml to the new name of our uri scheme (to match branches UI), and deeplinks now work great if the app is installed from the play store. But when our app is already installed and just updates it isn't having the correct behavior.
Is there a way to make android playstore updates reinstall the app, or force the app to update the xml on an update?
From what I read it should already be doing that but I'm getting weird behavior.
Thank you!
When we update the app via the play store the entire APK or bundle is downloaded and installed. Play store does not update the app in bits and pieces.
You can either force the users for an app update via your app code in order to continue usage. Alternatively, you can share a pop-up message on all outdated versions to update the app in order to access all features.
These will be viable options to proceed on as Play Store does not have any functionality to make it mandatory for the app to be updated.
Also, requesting you to perform a sanity check on your end to see what is the percentage of the error you are facing. On an update, the app should be on the new production build and everything should be working as expected to.
I hope the above helps here.
Related
hello there i want to ask about updating flutter app in play store
for example if i have a flutter app already published in play store and i have done some changes on it and now i have uploaded it to play store as an update.
so the question is :
1 - how may i notify the user that there is an update for my app ?
2 - and if i have unpublished app and i want to add links like rate my app and links related to my app in play store (it is unpublished yet) how can i get these links so that i may put them in my application before releasing it in play store
Generally speaking, you have to implement a custom solution for each case you asking about.
For example, to notify users you can:
Send push notifications to app users with information about an update being available. Clicking on such notification should lead to Play Market page with your application presented.
Or you can implement one more API route to your backend from which your app will request information about updates, e.g. a text file with the latest version of your app available. That version can be compared to the version of the application installed. If the new version is higher - show a popup notifying a user about the new update.
What relates to having links in your app that lead to the store page of your app - I think the second option I described above will also handle this issue. Custom API that returns a link in simple text format that if not empty could be opened. If you are just trying to avoid additional update - this solution will work.
Use the flutter package upgrader. will serve you well
Is it possible to 'block/prevent' users from using an old Android app?
I mean - I've already unpublished app from Play. This means that app is not available anymore for downloading.
But I'd like to restrict users to carry on using current installed app (which has been unpublished from Play).
Is it somehow possible?
Regards,
There isn't a way to check if the app is currently published to the Play Store, however you can check if there is a new version available.
From the link above:
String response = SendNetworkUpdateAppRequest(); // Your code to do the network request
// should send the current version
// to server
if(response.equals("YES")) // Start Intent to download the app user has to manually install it by clicking on the notification
startActivity(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("URL TO LATEST APK")));
Treating your users like this is not something you should do. Users have an expectation that once they have acquired an app they can keep using it, and you should respect that expectation.
But let's suppose there was a seriously good reason for doing it. Suppose your signing key and developer account had been compromised by an ex-employee, and you wanted to make sure users moved from the compromised app to a new app with a new package name.
You could then issue an update to the app which when loaded did nothing except display a message saying something like "This app is out of date and will no longer be updated. Please move to this app" and have a link to the new app in the Play store. Existing users would get the update, and while the old app is available to them, most users would not be able to get it.
As I said, this is very disrespectful behavior to your users in most situations, and I'd only recommend doing it if critical for user security.
I have created an Android application, published an initial version on Google Play Store and installed the APK on a test device.
How can i update new version without prompting?
I have seen sometimes Play store send notification for update
available and user can update after click on that notification but
some application is updating automatically.
hows it possible.?
I want that user get update automatically.
Your help would be highly appreciated.
No, it's not possible (unless the user clicked on the checkbox update automatically).
The only thing you could do is build yourself a shell of an application that would update itself from the internet when it gets run (but that would be quite an undertaking on your part and probably not worth your time).
No. Google Play cannot update applications automatically without user permission.
On Android I think that you can 'unpublish' an application so that no new users can download the application but that the user who already have the application will recieve new versions that are uploaded to google play (or so it seems to say here: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/113476?hl=en&ref_topic=3450986 )
However I can't find any information on iOS. Can I remove the app but still update existing customers with a new version?
Just for context the update I want to issue for both OS is basically an app which displays a 'app is now closed' message.
Any help would be gratefully received.
Can I remove the app but still update existing customers with a new version?
As far as I am concerned, you can't do this in the App Store.
No, this isn't possible. Once you remove the app, nobody will see it in the app store. Existing users of the app won't see any updates that you may have published before removing it that they never installed. It's just gone if you remove it from the app store.
You could publish an app update that includes some kind of notification system within the app, and keep that in the store long enough for most users to upgrade. Then after you pull the app from the store, you could update this message (presumably it would retrieve this message from your server) to state that the app is no longer available, and maybe direct them to whatever you have that you're replacing it with (assuming you're replacing it). Otherwise, I don't see why you necessarily need to inform existing users that you've removed the app. If there are server-side components that it accesses, and you're shutting those down, I guess the app will simply cease to function for existing users.
I also don't think there is a way to offer updates without new customers being able to buy the app.
Why not increase the price of the app to the highest price allowed in the app store, so that no one will buy it? That way you can offer an update for your existing customers, but effectively stop new sales. If the new price is $1999.00 US, I doubt if you will get any takers...
Are there any special requirements my app should obey to ensure users are notofied when an update is available? (My current app is freeware if it matters)
Google play shows automatic update once you release a newer version of your app in google play. But the update can be see only if the user visits your app in Google play.
If you want to show the update notification at the launch of your application, then some extra coding is required.
You can write a code inside the start of your application to read a file from some server, which contains the version number of your app.
Evereytime you update the application, you can change the version number in the server.
So, once the app gets a different version number as compared t previous one saved in sharedPreference, you can write logic to launch googleplay to update your app and also update your sharedPreference with latest version number.
Hope you understand what I am trying to say.